Boston Bruins Exorcise New Jersey Devils At TD Garden.
The Boston Bruins easily exorcised the New Jersey Devils in a 3-0 victory last night at the TD Garden. The B’s played one of their best games of the season last night. It was a total sixty minute effort from the Black and Gold. The Bruins dominated in the offensive zone, and only the serious efforts of Corey Schneider (with forty saves) kept it from being a total disaster for the New Jersey Devils. The B’s came out firing out on all cylinders and never stopped firing. The Bruins total effort gave the B’s their third shutout of the season. The Bruins even notched up their first back-to-back double victory of the season.
Here’s a quick snippet of how things went last night.
The Bruins were everywhere tonight. The B’s out shot the Devils 43-14. The Bruins combination of offense and defense kept New Jersey to only seven shots on goal in the first two periods. The Bruins made life very easy for back-up goaltender Niklas Svedberg (who earned his second shutout of the season).
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Lucic is finally in ‘beast’ mode. Milan Lucic put in two goals last night. (The second one was an empty netter partially provided by the unselfish nature of Patrice Bergeron.) Lucic was once again the player he promised he was going to be. He was a +2, with three shots and three hits on the night. He brought fire, he brought energy, and he’s playing great with Bergeron on his center. He earned his Second Star of the Game Honors.
David Pastrnak did alright out there. Had Schneider not been standing on his head for the Devils, Pastrnak would have gotten his first NHL goal tonight. He finished the night with four shots on goal, and 15:04 of ice time. He’s got three more games to get that first goal, and if he continues to play like this, that goal will happen soon.
The Bruins now a six game point streak. The Bruins have been 3-0-3 in their last six games. Sure, it’s not a 6-0-0 run, but the Bruins are now back in the playoff race. They’re hanging on to the wild card spot, and starting to climb their way back up. They’re only five points behind the Detroit Red Wings, and there is plenty of season left for the Bruins to close that gap.
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The Bruins new ‘top’ line has surprised us all. Claude Julien knew he had to mix things up on his forward lines. He’s done it in the past, with mixed success. When he unveiled his new line of Milan Lucic, Patrice Bergeron, and Daniel Paille there was some skepticism. A lot of people had been ragging on Paille for playing only seven or eight minutes a night. Lucic and Bergeron had been underwhelming coming into the halfway point of the season.
It’s clear that this line is a success. The experience of Paille and Bergeron has gotten Lucic to play at the level we’ve come to expect from him. Paille is getting more ice time than he’s seen in a while, and it’s certainly affecting his game positively. Claude Julien mentioned his new line’s performance after the win against the Devils.
“I think when you look at how they’ve played — and I liked them [Wednesday night in the B’s 3-2 overtime win in Pittsburgh], that’s why I went with them again [Thursday],” offered the Bruins bench boss. “I’m not going to change anything until I feel the need to change things. Danny is skating as good as I’ve seen him skate so far this year. He seemed energized, and Looch is finding his game again. That line’s been good for us, and the other lines too are good.”
The Bruins hope to get a small measure of revenge when the Blue Jackets come to town on Saturday.